This week we’re chatting to Christina* about the realities behind her job working as cabin crew for a well-known company. Christina* is 30-years-old and has been a flight attendant for nine years, she applied after working as an overseas rep but didn’t need a degree or travel and tourism qualification to apply. She gets paid £21,745 basic salary per year, plus hourly flight pay and commission from sales on board each flight.
This is what a day in Christina’s* working life looks like…
3am: “I wake up before an early flight. I tend to start the day with some caffeine and fruit/cereal bar as its quite early to be up and on the go and it can sometimes be mid morning before I get my first sit down break.”
5am: “Each shift starts with a crew room briefing which lasts 15 minutes and covers what to expect for the day, if we have passengers with any medical requirements and any special occasions. We then discuss situations that may occur that day (if someone has angina – what medication would be needed out of the medical kit if an angina attack happened) and how we would deal with it, covering both safety and medical issues, so everybody can deal with it in a confident way. We also discuss the aircraft type we are on for the day as cabin crew are trained on up to three different types with different variations, and the emergency exits and equipment are in different places on each one so we cover where the nearest oxygen bottle may be.”
“Each month we will receive a roster that covers four weeks, it can be a mix of long haul trips which can vary from an overnight stay to staying up to 4/5 nights varying from Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Orlando, Thailand, Cuba, Aruba and Goa. There’s also short haul flights that can be done in a day and these are mainly in Europe – Egypt is our furthest short haul.”
5.30am: “Following on from the briefing, I head down to security for myself and my bags to be scanned. We have the same restrictions as passengers with liquid allowances etc so that can take some time to get through. I then head down to the aircraft for the day, which is usually 1hr 30 mins before take off.”
“We get on to prepare the aircraft ready for passengers, dress the toilets, set up a bar cart, check our equipment, upload our iPads to be used as computers for the day, dress seats pockets with a safety cards and a menu guide and the obligatory sick bag. If you are working in first class cabin on long haul you will dress the cabin with headsets, a bottle of water and an amenity pack. Then you are ready to board the passengers, checking the destination, date on the ticket and seat number.”
7am: “Once everyone is boarded, you are sometimes required to do a head count to double check passenger loads are correct. We have a handling agent who will tell us if we have anyone not turn up, if all the bags have been loaded and if there is any cargo hold we need to be aware of (sometimes we can transport animals such as dogs, so it’s good to know if you can hear barking!).”
“With the captain’s permission, we close the door, do the well known safety demonstration, point out the emergency exits and show you the life jackets and seat belts. We will then secure ourselves into our jump seats for take off.”
“One of the hardest things about what I do is adapting to different time zones and flying throughout the night can be very challenging. If you ever get someone really poorly, cabin crew are trained to a very high quality of medical training to deal with anything that can arise – giving CPR can be draining both physically and mentally, as can attending to any medical emergency from fainting to childbirth.”
7.30am: “Once we have been released from our seats with the seat belt sign switched off, we set up bar carts to serve drinks and snacks for the flight. If you are on a long haul flight this will be followed by the meal service. It is only after this point that we get out first break and a chance to sit down for breakfast after hours of already being on our feet, so the curtain gets pulled across and we will sit on a bar box in the galleys for a short break. We also the responsibility of providing food and drink for the pilots and checking on their welfare every 30 mins as well as passenger welfare and cabin and lavatory tidiness.”
“My favourite thing about working as cabin crew is that every day is different. 99% of customers are happy to be going on holiday and love chatting to you about all sorts of things they’ve done whilst away. You can be on somebody’s first flight, taking them on their honeymoon, to their wedding or just on a well earned break and it’s lovely to be a part of that and make the journey as smooth as possible.”
“Working alongside your friends makes the day fly by and you make lifelong friends who understand it’s a lifestyle not just a job. The luxury side of long haul is getting to spend a day on the beach and in lovely hotels, exploring new places you’d never considered. Sometimes we will get special experiences such as seeing the northern lights on a flights, taking children to Lapland, taking football teams out to competitions in Europe and much more, there is some much variety each and every day.”
10am: “Thirty minutes before the end of a flight we are told by flight crew to prepare for arrival. After this time we cannot then contact the flight crew as that is their time for peak concentration without distractions.”
11am: “After landing, for long haul you will swap over with another crew who will be taking the flight back to the UK as you stay overnight. On short haul you will have turnaround of 90 mins before you fly back with returning passengers.”
“We do a security search for any lost property or any significant findings and have cleaners get on the aircraft to tidy seat areas, carpets and toilets. Whilst they do this we will redress the toilets, redress the seats pockets and cabin and complete any lost property paperwork – the amount of passports, phones, kindles left behind is unbelievable! We then go through all the motions again for the return flight.”
4pm: “The time I get home from a shift can change massively depending on the type of flight I’ve been on and if there’s been any delays. Once you have driven home from the airport you can be very tired so it’s important to wind down, get comfortable and if its late – try to get some sleep.”
“If you are on a short early flight, the rest of the day is yours to go to the gym, prepare your dinner and see friends. It’s also important if you are flying the next day to prepare your suitcase for the next flight with a fresh uniform, including work pinny and anew face mask (covid flying). I also always pack an overnight kit in case of an unexpected night stop and fully charge my iPad for the next day.Minimum rest between flights is 12 hours, so sometimes there’s a quick turnaround before and then you are reporting for duty again.”
“Despite the long hours, hard work and not-so-glamourous side to parts of the job, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
You can read more of our 24 Hours In The Life Of career series here.
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